Sailing Part One

I think I’ve always been fascinated by boats - sailboats in particular.  At the age of 10 or 11, I remember cutting a piece of 2x4, shaping it crudely, and sticking a dowel and square sail on it.  It didn’t really work but it did drift downwind.  Eventually, after college, I bought a 14 foot long day-sailor sloop.  I learned as I went without any formal instructions.  That was a long time ago.  Its design, though, would have fit in nicely with the boats I followed around the race course yesterday.

 

 My friend Jeff invited me to join in the fun.  He and his family are avid sailors.  Yesterday, his two older girls and a friend we crewing a Lightning.  I’ll describe the boats further later, but for now will just say that for the “small boat series,” boats need to be less than 20 ft long.

The evening got off to an auspicious start as I waited.  Shortly after 5:00 pm the river was still glass-like with only the faintest hint of a breeze.  There is some rigging to do before setting out on unpowered sailboats.  Getting sails fastened to the mast (vertical pole) and the boom (the horizontal pole on the bottom edge of the main sail), getting the lines set up and so on.  This can take about 30 minutes.  The larger of these boats are on trailers which, once all is ready, are guided down to the waters edge.  There they are hoisted by a winch and then swung out and lowered into the creek.

 

The rigging and hoisting of sails continues once in the water as well.

The Lasers are on small, light trailers – called dollies.  They are pushed easily onto a floating pontoon and from there they are simply pushed into the water.

The wind was so light that the Committee Boat out in the River called back on the radio and debated whether to cancel the race, but ultimately decided it was a ‘go.’  Getting out of the creek was slow going, and called for some paddle action on the larger boats.  The sailors on the Lasers use their body weight to rock the boats back and forth.  This motion combined with coordinated action of the tiller (part that steers) results in forward progress.

After getting our skiff Lady Carolina started, we followed  behind some of the boats working their way out of the creek to the Patuxent.  It’s simply beautiful, and made me long for a time when I had my own water craft.  I find the water so relaxing too.  There are lots of birds, including the Ospreys.   The scenery is wonderful.  There are plenty of boats to examine as you glide by, and houses and restaurants to take in as well.
 

The Lightning ahead of our skiff

Beautiful boat in the creek

Looks like we had one spectator

An Osprey hanging out on a spreader

Once out on the river and connecting with the Committee Boat, our job was to motor about a quarter mile directly upwind to set the rounding mark – a big Red float that is anchored to the bottom.   With directions via radio from the Committee Boat, Robert (at the helm) and our trusty deckhand, Justin, made short work of it.

 

 

 

Committee Boat

 

Wind yet to cooperate

Osprey!

 

While we were setting the course, the boats were sailing around getting a feel for the wind strength and currents.  This is a preparatory time for them, waiting for the horn blasts that indicate the pre-start and start.

The Start is one of the more exciting times in the race.  Each of the skippers is trying to time the count down  so his/her boat is moving at top speed as it crosses the start line.  This means the boats are typically in close proximity to each other and it can be a little intimidating, anxious and as I said – exciting.  This club level racing is competitive, yet in a very laid-back way.   The Lasers start off and several minutes later the rest of the fleet go.  There’s no screaming, yelling or waving going on.  These are friends racing over bragging rights back at the bar.  It’s fun for all.

 Here a Buccaneer leads the start. The VX One is next, and the Lightning trails the second Buccaneer.

 Lasers just past the start still bunched up.

Lightning

VX One

One of the things that caught my attention was the variety in both the boats and the crew with folk in their 50’s (guessing) to teens, and boats with equal ages.  The Lightning was designed back in 1938 by Olin & Stephens is a true classic. To be clear The "Lightning" is a design, like a Ford Mustang is a design. The 19 foot wooden hull with aluminum mast weighs in around 700 pounds with a sail area (main and jib) of 177 sq. ft.  The design includes a spinnaker, the big down-wind sail) but it wasn’t used in this race.  The Lightning in this race was built in the early 1960’s.  As Jeff likes to say, he bought the trailer for $100, and the boat came free.  The boat is doing well, and the $100 trailer succumbed to the effects of corrosion and has been replaced.  The other end of the spectrum is the VX One, this one is named "Water Rat."  Designed in 2011 with the latest materials – including a carbon fiber mast, it too is 19 ft long.   It has 215 sq. ft. of sail (main and jib) and weighs 550 lbs. It has a specialized sail for down-wind sailing called a gennaker and it’s powerful!  This is an expensive (very) rocket ship.  The other boats fall in between with prices and ages.  The common denominator is fun!

 

Tomorrow, I plan to post Part 2 which will cover more of the racing and the return to port.

I'll leave you tonight with a couple 'scenic' pics.

Blessings,
Brian